This one-day program will provide a unique, memorable musical experience for male and female middle school & high school students, while raising funds for the participating schools’ Music Departments. Students will pre-register, as a group, via their music teachers. The young menʼs choruses and young womenʼs choruses will each work with a qualified clinician/director and a teaching quartet to rehearse three songs, while reinforcing good vocal techniques. Sheet music and learning tracks will be supplied to students in advance. A show will be held in the evening, featuring the students, and other performing groups. Tickets to the show will be sold, and the show proceeds will help cover the program cost, and provide for a donation to the Music Department of each participating school. Lunch and dinner will be included. A student fee of $10. will help defray the cost of the meals, and the studentsʼ music (which they keep!). There is no charge for music educators.

Schedule Overview

8:30am - Students arrive and sign in

              -Students rehearse with director & teaching quartet, alternating with breaks

              -Educators are welcome to attend the Music Educatorʼs Seminar running concurrently

Lunch -with student performance open mike

Afternoon -Rehearsals with breaks

                -Mini performance by teaching quartets

                -Rehearsals with breaks

               -Rehearsal of combined finale together with adult choruses and quartets

Dinner

               -Prep for show

7:00pm -Show

After Show -Refreshments

The Directors

Angie Dolber, MS Young Women's Chorus: Angie grew up in western MA in a family who loved music and theater. In middle school / high school, she was in Show Choir and Chorus and performed in school musicals. She continued her singing in an a cappella group for 3 years while attending Norwich University in VT. From Jan - Dec 1998, she was a student in an international educational organization called "Up With People" where she traveled with 130 people from 21 countries doing a 2 hour broadway-style show in 60 cities throughout the US, Belgium, Austria, France, and Japan. In 2000, she was introduced to her first Harmony, Inc. barbershop chorus, The BarreTones in Barre, VT and sang with them for 2 years. After marrying her husband in 2002, she moved back to MA and was a member of the Women of Note chorus for 12 years, holding numerous leadership positions. Angie was honored to be named WON "Barbershopper of the Year" 3 times as well. In June of 2012, she became the Director of NoteAble Blend, a Harmony, Inc chorus in South Easton, MA. She sang tenor in the quartet, "Acappella 4" for 5 years competing at Area and International Quartet contests, and won the "Accord Award" for most improved quartet in 2015. Since Dec 2017, Angie sings baritone with a quartet called "True Colors" who placed 2nd in the Area 2 Quartet contest in April 2018 and placed 10th in the International Quartet contest in Orlando, FL last November. She and husband John have a 14 year old daughter, Jenna, who may be a future Harmony, Inc member at some point! Angie is looking forward to working with the students to have some fun and make some great music together!

Ray Johnson, HS Young Men's Chorus: Since 2016 Ray has been the musical director of the Youth Harmony Workshop Northeast. They meet monthy to learn from each other and experiment with the freshest minds in barbershop about what barbershop is, singing and performing craft, and how to organize a chorus. He also directs Women of Note of Harmony, Inc., the Post Road Chorus in Sweet Adelines International, and the New Sound Assembly in BHS. His 27 years as a barbershopper have brought him a wealth of knowledge and a host of invaluable experiences. Past ensembles include two-time, 2nd-place finishes with the Barbershop Harmony Society Northeastern District Chord Sharks singing lead, 2005 NED Champion and 2005 International Collegiate Champions and two-time 7th place Barbershop Harmony Society's international finalists Men in Black. Currently he sings in two quartets, 2nd-place Harmony Incorporated's Area 2 mixed quartet Neapolitan, and 2016 NEDchampions and BHS internationally-ranked Drive.

Cay Outerbridge, MS Young Men's Chorus: Cay Outerbridge is one of the Assistant Directors of Vocal Revolution. He's an accomplished arranger, and sings bass in the award-winning quartet “Daily Special.” He’s really looking forward to sharing his creative musical insights with the students.

Chad Putka,  MS Young Men's Chorus: Chad Putka is a music educator with a bachelor's degree in music from Oberlin College and Conservatory and a master's degree in music education from Boston University. Although he is currently teaching music to students pre-K through 5th grade at Moses Brown School in Providence, RI, he has worked with middle schoolers, high schoolers, and adult singers of all ages through his work as a school, church, and community choir director and private voice teacher. As a barbershopper, Chad is the lead of the award-winning men's quartet Daily Special, the assistant director of the Narragansett Bay Chorus, and the co-director of the new mixed gender barbershop chorus, Voices United. He has made it his mission to serve as a model of positive, encouraging, and sensitive choral music leadership, and looks forward to bringing that energy to this exciting project.

Samantha Tramack, HS Young Women's Chorus: In her twelve years as a Harmony Inc.,member, Samantha has already won many international medals with her chorus and competed with four quartets! In 2009, she sang lead withThree and a Half. In 2012, she sang tenor with Sister Act, 2012 International 11th Place Quartet and winner of the Findlay Plaque (novice quartet award), along with her sister, Christina, and Amanda and Andrea Hutchings, sisters from Maine-ly Harmony. Samantha also sings baritone with Family Fun, 2018 Area 2 4th Place Quartet, with her mother, Renee, and another mother-daughter team, Diane and Carey Fagerstrom. Samantha is the lead of the 2016 Harmony Queens, Taken 4 Granite with Renee, Christina, and close family friend Katrine Dickau. She directed the Minor Chords chorus at International in 2014 as well as directing theGenerations Chorus from 2012 to 2016. Samantha is in her final year of college at Plymouth State University studying Music Education and is intending on becoming a music teacher in the near future. Samantha is a member of her college’s Chorale, Chamber Singers and is the Music Director of their female a cappella group, Mixed Emotions , and a member of the band.

The Teaching Quartets

Daily Special:

MS Young Mens Chorus 

https://www.dailyspecialquartet.com

https://www.facebook.com/DailySpecialQuartet/

Daily Special is a men's barbershop quartet based in Southern New England. Known for their easy connection with audiences and authentic vocal delivery, they have been decorated at several regional a cappella competitions, including the award of second place at last year's Boston Harmony Sweepstakes. In addition to their accomplishments as a quartet, Cay, Ben, Chad, and Isaac have all been active leaders in their home choruses, prioritizing education and service while giving back to those who have helped them to learn and grow. They can't wait to be a part of this event, and to bring their love of barbershop to new young audiences. 

Foreign Exchange:

HS Young Women's Chorus

https://www.facebook.com/foreignexchangequartet/

Foreign Exchange is a female barbershop quartet that began in the end of January 2009 and has achieved many accolades since their inception, including, 2011 Harmony Queens with Harmony, Inc., 2012 Boston Regional Harmony Sweeps Champions, and 2014 Sweet Adelines Region 15 Champions.

Bass Amanda Holloway is a born and bred American who is a Surgical Technologist by day and an avid equestrian by night. She enjoys spending her free time riding hunters and jumpers competitively. She loves singing tags until the wee hours in the morning, the more challenging the tag, the more fun she has.

Baritone Nanda Landers also loves singing tags. She was born and raised in The Netherlands, only coming to the US in 1991 as an au pair when she met and married Tim. They have 2 children.

Tenor Morgan La Croix is as Canadian as one can get. She can trace back her heritage for 16 generations on her father's side! She has been singing barbershop since the ripe old age of 12 when she joined the Montreal Chapter of Harmony, Inc. She has been in many quartets since then, both in Harmony, Inc and Sweet Adelines Intl.

Lead Maria Gabriella was born and raised in Montreal Canada, bringing even more foreign flavour (yes, flavoUr) to the quartet. What separates her from Morgan is that Maria is a first generation Canadian, since her parents were both born in different countries. She has sung in various quartets and choruses since she discovered barbershop in 1995 and is happily calling Women of Note her current home, where she is assistant lead section leader.

Green Light:

HS Young Men's Chorus

https://greenlightquartet.com

https://www.facebook.com/GreenlightQtet/

Greenlight Quartet rang their first chords in the summer of 2016 at a youth harmony workshop near Worcester, MA. Originally consisting of only leads and basses scattered around the Northeast District, two members (Louis and Will) selflessly committed themselves to becoming the Tenor and Baritone of the quartet, respectively. In spite of the part switches and the long-distance setup, it's been a winning combination!

Since forming, they've won the 2018 Barbershop Harmony Society's Northeastern DistrictQuartet Championship, as well as the 2017 NED Youth Quartet Championship. They have also competed on the International stage twice, placing 7th in their most recent appearance in the 2018 Next Generation Varsity Quartet Contest (formerly YBQC). As true barbershoppers, they love to meet new people, and better yet, sing with them! Greenlight is thrilled to be the teaching quartet for the young men’s high school chorus at this year’s Student Barbershop Festival – we can’t imagine a better way to introduce this amazing art form to a new generation of singers! Many of us were first exposed to barbershop in high school, and we hope that this festival can be a similarly transformative experience for these students.

True Colors:

MS Young Women's Chorus

https://www.facebook.com/TrueColorsQuartet/

True Colors is a women’s barbershop quartet with a lively blend of energetic grooves and heartfelt harmonies. Though steeped in the tradition of barbershop harmony, True Colors breathes new life into a variety of musical styles including blues, jazz, show tunes, pop songs, and standards from the Great American Songbook. Formed by four strong women who believe in always being genuine no matter what, True Colors offers artistry and authenticity at every turn. Founded in 2017, the quartet members are: Kate Steer, Jennifer Selby, Gayle Ellwood, and Angie Dolber.

The Music Educator Seminar Facilitator

Nate Shaffer:  Nate is a professional improviser, keyboard player, and educator working in Boston. Since studying classical composition and performance at Brandeis University, he has enjoyed a vibrant & diverse musical life.  He has improvised music around New England alongside bands, dancers, and for improv comedy.  In addition to making things up in the moment, he composes his own material -- often going very slowly! 

As an educator, he has taught group classes on improvising music, improvising musical comedy, and the fundamentals of singing. Facilitating groups of learners offers varied sets of challenges; he always strives to balance conceptual and kinesthetic realms.  Since 2013 he has Music Directed at ImprovBoston, and he offers private lessons out of his home in Medford.  

As a teenager, singing barbershop served a vital role in his education. It cemented an understanding of core elements of sound-making -- overtones, timbre, audiation, and hearing harmonies. Some of his fondest memories came from singing tags all through the night, being in community with other musicians, and sharing a love of song with audiences. He looks forward to spending some time with you!